


The Ruin and the Ranger

by krinblww



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: God help me tag, Light Angst, Non-Graphic Violence, Prequel, Ranger Wild, Sassy Legend, Sassy Wild, just the normal stuff, meeting sequence, please just have this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:13:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22036864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krinblww/pseuds/krinblww
Summary: Legend hated that they were lost. He hated even more that their only guide was a feral seventeen-year-old boy who was very at home in the ruins of this world. And he hated most that they had yet to find the Hero of this Hyrule- or so he thought.Basically, a guilty pleasure series of Untrusting Ranger Wild, and how the others would have met him. bls enjoy~
Comments: 41
Kudos: 383





	1. The Guide

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up with a start one night with the idea of Ranger Wild, and it didn't allow me to leave it behind. Hylia herself forced me to make this four-parter... and well, I don't know, it kind of grew on me. 
> 
> Ah, ignore my incessant rambling. Please, enjoy!

No one recongnised the landscape they were now in, which wasn’t amazingly novel. For what seemed like months, Twilight, Time, Warriors, and Legend were trying to navigate the strange hodgepodge of landscapes that they had found themselves in ever since they had each stepped through their respective portals. Landmarks were familiar every now and then, but the similarities didn’t last long.  
Even so, when they stepped out of the dense forest that had been giving them hell for the past two nights, they could tell that this place wasn’t just one of the random landscapes thrown in their path. 

Twilight felt something here- though he couldn’t quite tell what that something was. Nostalgia? Familiarity? Fear? His steps on the sparse path didn’t quite feel like his own. 

Time felt something too, but he knew exactly what the feeling was. Dread. Something was going to rear its ugly head, and he wasn’t quite sure if he was ready to meet it.

Legend had just met up with the group through a suspicious dark portal half a week ago, and was still confused out of his mind. But something about this place gave him a terribly familiar feeling- a feeling that he had grown to hate. He was filled with the desire for adventure. And that in itself scared him silly.

And Warrior? He was still far to busy with his allies to pay attention to the landscape. Some old soldier’s instinct told him that all of his companions were hiding far to many things for comfort. Under his facade of a socialite, his strategists’ mind calculated.

And as such, the patchwork crew reached a silent consensus; Something was going to happen. Something was not right.  
All this while they had been trekking goalessly along the edge of a great wall, intricately built with arches and pillars. They were all mildly off-put by the disarray that it was in, but they were sure that if they found the entrance to this wall all of their questions would be answered. There was probably a perfectly fine town inside it- or maybe even the castle itself. 

They had been walking for two hours when they saw the ruins. 

“Oh,” Said Twilight softly. “Oh Hylia.” 

The charred foundations of what must have been houses edged in on either side of the path. Vines crawled up the crumbling stone walls, unaware of the ruin around them. Overturned, overgrown wagons splintered into the wildflowers below. No object was without burn marks, no structure laid untouched.  
They had stumbled into devastation.  
Warrior took a rusted halberd out of one of the piles of rubble. Besides the deteriorating metal, there was the distinct irony mark of ago-old blood.  
“What happened he-”  
He was cut off by a startled grunt as a moblin became aware of their presence- It lumbered their way, hefting a flimsy yet painful-looking spiked club. It was soon joined by a scrawny red bokoblin hopping over the ruined walls.  
Time readied his Biggoron sword and stepped into a battle stance.  
Twilight unsheathed his Ordon sword and was about to do the same, but there was a cry from one of the rubble heaps behind them.  
“Wait!” Warrior yelped. “These ones are infected!”  
Twilight whipped around to find the Captain grappling with a navy-hued moblin, Legend landing panicked swipes with his Tempered Sword. Sure enough, black blood gushed out of its wounds.  
Twilight turned back around just in time to see the red moblin’s bone-spiked club raised high above his head. The moblin’s inhuman eyes glinted in triumph as the club reached the apex of its arc.

Silently, he cursed himself. He was stupid, turning his back on an enemy mid-battle like that. Midna would have teased him for months. 

The hero closed his eyes, waiting.  
His heart beat furiously with adrenaline. His rushed breathing sounded louder than an earthquake.  
A moment passed.  
Two.  
Three.  
What was it waiting for? He dared to crack his eyes open, just a sliver-  
An arrow had pierced the moblin’s eye, burrowing straight through its head. The spiked club dropped to the ground with a wooden clatter. A moan of anguish escaped its lips before it collapsed, and then disappeared in a puff of rancid dark smoke.  
Twilight fell to his knees and coughed. All of his adrenaline drained away in one apathetic rush, leaving him empty and shaking.  
He had almost died. But was that so new to him?  
Footsteps sounded to his left. Time reached out an armored hand.

“Are you alright, pup?”  
Twilight took it tenderly.  
“Don’t call me that.”  
Time laughed as he hauled his protege to his feet. Legend trotted up to the pair, holding an arrow similar to the green-feathered one sticking out of the moblin’s head. Black blood stained its shaft. His head was turned in the direction of a strange mechanical body with weird stone swirls and what looked like a head and eye. From behind it stepped a scrawny figure obscured by a black travelers’ cloak.  
He held a strange-looking bow in one hand, and as he moved to put it on his back it seemed to… fold? A quiver of the green-feathered arrows was hung from one of the belts around his waist, and a mysterious glowing rectangle hung from another. His hood was pulled up, but as he strode towards the group he seemed… expectant?  
The boy- because that’s what he was, he hardly looked over seventeen- stopped, sizing up Warrior’s emerging bruises, Time’s hulking frame, Twilight’s drawn sword, and legend’s… overall outfit choice, and held out an expectant hand.  
Twilight blinked.  
The boy waited.  
Without warning, Warrior sidled up to their strange savior and smacked a red rupee in his hand. 

“Thank you so much for saving us, young sir.”  
The boy raised an eyebrow, but pocketed the rupee. Whether it was the “young” part or the “sir” part that had miffed him, Twilight didn’t know. 

“We seem to be a bit lost. Might we trouble you with the location of the gate?” Warriors said, laying on as much charisma as he could muster.  
The boy looked confused.  
“You know, the gate to that fine wall there? With the village inside?”

A long moment passed. 

Then their strange new companion erupted in laughter. He had to take some deep breaths before he could string together the words;  
“You mean the Great Plateau?”  
“The what?”  
He stifled another giggle.

“Where are you guys from?” 

Warrior paused, and gave Legend a panicked glance. 

“Er, I don’t believe you answered my question,” Warrior stalled.  
“And you didn’t answer mine.” Replied the boy, suspicion mounting in his tone. “Where are you from?”  
Legend finally jumped into the fray, to Warrior’s relief. 

“Just south of here. We never really ventured out, though, with how dangerous it is.” He threw a look towards the ruins, for effect.  
The boy narrowed his eyes.  
“Just south of here, huh?” He chuckled humorlessly to himself. “I thought so.” He began to turn away from them, taking a step back

But without warning, he whipped back around, a sword drawn. Except the sword was blue. And glowing. 

What was with this world? 

The sword flew in a low, horizontal arc. Twilight barely had time to parry it with his own sword, but he noticed that when the swords connected, the ethereal blade left a sizable notch in his trusty Ordon Sword.  
Great, three more hours of sword sharpening. Just to top off my day.  
The thought had barely finished before he was met with another swipe. He managed to dodge this time, but he could feel the heat trails that the sword dragged through the air.  
A shout rang from behind him.

“Twilight, get down!” 

He flattened himself against the dirt path as an arrow whistled above his head, and heard a mangled cry as the arrow met its mark.  
Twilight hopped to his feet. An arrow stuck out of the boy’s calf, and he was trying and failing to get back on his feet. He settled for attempting to drag himself back towards the mechanical creature’s husk.  
“Filthy Yiga.” He snarled. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”  
Legend placed his boot on the boy’s good leg. 

“Who are the Yiga?” He asked. 

“Who are the Yiga?” The boy repeated, incredulous. “You, idiot! Servants of Ganon who want to kill me! Does that ring a bell?”

It was the group’s turn to laugh now. The boy just stared at them in pure fury. 

“We’re not servants of Ganon,” Warriors wheezed, in between bouts of laughter.  
“We’re the opposite of that, really.” Added Twilight, also failing at suppressing his giggles.  
Twilight offered a hand to the boy, which he promptly ignored.

“What are you, then?” he asked.  
Silence followed as the motley crew looked to one another. None of them really had an answer to that question. The boy carefully hauled himself to his feet, teetering on his good leg, left eye squinting in pain. 

“Okay then, at least answer me this,” He looked them over again, possibly seeing the weariness that had seeped into the group, but also the courage and resolve that had been found there. 

“Do you know what my name is?”

A minute passed before Legend shrugged. 

“Nope. Care to enlighten us?”  
A relieved smile finally spread across the boy’s face. The tension in his shoulders eased. All Yiga uttered his name like a curse, but these four seemed blissfully clueless.

“Definitely not. Now, where did you say you were from?”

\---


	2. The Liar's Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No action here, just truth ;)
> 
> Amazing au by jojo56830 on Tumblr

Warrior had managed to spin together a half-truth about how they were brothers from a village to the far southeast, and they hadn’t explored the region because of the dangers they heard about from their friends. They gave him their nicknames, and told him that they needed to find their way to one of the villages to meet a friend. After some consideration, and a couple glances to Twilight’s still-unsheathed Ordon Sword, he had nodded and limped down the path silently. The way his cloak flew in the wind made him look like some sort of grizzled ranger, far from his post. And yet he didn’t seem older than seventeen.

They passed more ruins, and more corpses of the mechanical beings- which their newfound guide often stopped to search, picking out gears and screws. 

Again Warrior wondered just what had happened here.

Soon the horizon began to blossom with reds and oranges. Their guide stopped, nearly causing Legend to bump into him, and hopped off the path. 

“We need to get a fire going.” The traveler said, clearing a spot behind some bushes. 

“We can walk through the night,” Answered Twilight. The boy gave a humorless laugh. 

“Not here, you can’t,” He turned towards the group, a glint in his hood-shadowed eye. “Even you must know that.”

Warrior decided that he didn’t like any aspect of his situation. He was in unfamiliar territory, with a guide that had already tried to kill them, and just to top it off, said guide spoke in riddles. But contrary to what Twilight had claimed, he was tired. And hungry. He longed for something other than the cold rations that they had been forcing down for the past few weeks.

He crouched down next to their guide, who visibly flinched and edged away from him. 

Rude.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any good food, would you? I’m starving.” Warriors groaned dramatically. 

The traveler gave him a raised eyebrow that they had begun to get familiar with. Without a word he got out a spear, and threaded a large porgy onto its shaft. Where he got the fish, Warrior couldn’t quite explain. He stuck the spear head into the dirt close enough to the fire to singe its fins. Fat began to drip from the fish as its skin charred crisp.

Warror’s mouth watered.

By sundown the guide had three porgies grilling by the fire. He was looking at the glowing rectangular object that they had seen him look to at many points in their travels. Was it a map? A magic item of some kind? 

There was just so much about him, about this world, that Warrior didn’t understand. And so much about his heroic companions as well.  Legend was experienced, but hated open water. What in his experiences had occurred to harbor such a fear?  Darkness swam in Time’s lone eye, and too often he could see the conflicting thoughts of a child brush across its surface. What had that eye seen?  And Warrior didn’t miss the way Twilight glanced longingly at the horizon when his namesake graced the sky. He could hear him muttering, saying something about another world…

And the Guide? He was something else entirely. When his face was visible under his hood, Warrior could make out a labyrinth of burn scars across his left side. His hood was down now as he stared into the fire. 

Reflections of flames danced in his icy blue eyes. There was something about those eyes- the way they seemed to stare through things, through people, with cold precision. Something about those eyes seemed as ancient as the ruins that surrounded him, a remnant of a time long past.

Yes. Truth needed to be spoken.

\--

The Guide had the same thought as he gave the grilling porgies a final turn. He didn’t recognise any of these new travelers, and he had been conversing with the travelers of Hyrule for quite a while now. Their garb was all wrong, too. The furry one had weird facial tattoos, and so did the one-eyed man with too much armor. And the short one didn’t even have any pants. 

Who in the name of Farosh went traveling with no pants? 

And they had been _ so  _ vague when he had asked them where they were from. There were only a few settlements left in Hyrule, they could have at least picked one.

So as Warrior (Quite the modest nickname) reached desperately for one of the grilled porgies as he set them on a plate, the Guide jerked the plate back. 

“Liars don’t get porgy.” He said defiantly. A childish move, but a necessary one. He had seen the way their mouths had watered when he stuck the tropical fish on their spits. And he knew from experience that hunger was a very reliable motivator.

“That’s not fair,” Whined Legend. (Again, with the modest nicknames) “Are you gonna just eat all those yourself?”

“Yeah, yeah, you haven’t been very truthful either.” Added Warrior. The Guide just raised a patient eyebrow.

“I might not have told you all, but I haven’t told you a lie.”

It was true. So he dug in, peppering his meal with the occasional “Mm, this is _ so _ good” and “Wow, that crispy grilled skin, though”

He was halfway done when Warrior broke.

“Fine! We’re the Heroes of Hyrule, and we were brought here from another world by these weird dark portal things, and we all live in Hyrules from different times, and we just need to find some more of us before trying to battle whatever darkness is plaguing the realm and give me the food  _ now please _ .”

Warrior reached towards the plate of fish the Guide had set out, but he smacked his hand away. 

“I said, liars don’t get porgy!”

“It’s not a lie!” Warrior whimpered. “Could I have made that up?”

He had a very valid point. Slowly, the Guide retracted his hand. Warrior snatched the plate up greedily. 

“Would it destroy you to leave some for the rest of us?” Asked Legend.

“Absolutely.”

Twilight and Time weren’t without hunger either. Twilight edged forward.

“Oh, and,” The furry hero began, “We use our nicknames because we’re each named Link.”

The Guide’s heart stopped. Absentmindedly, he nudged the plate of porgy towards the mysterious tattooed pair in affirmation, but his eyes were elsewhere. 

Because that was _ his _ name. 

All of the Heroes of Hyrule were named Link. 

But what would they do with him? What use would group of Heroes have with a scrawny ranger like him? He was no Hero. The Hero died a hundred years ago, on that godforsaken battlefield.

No. To them, he was just the Guide. And he intended to stay that way.

He was startled from his thoughts as Legend called out.

“I said, what about you? You’re hiding things too,”

“Information will be given on a need-to-know basis.” Mumbled the Guide half-mindedly. He was probably quoting someone. Purah, maybe. 

“Yes, and we need to know it,” Said Time. It was the first thing he had said for the entire exchange. 

“Well, I can tell you one thing,” The Guide announced, changing the subject deftly. “This all calls for a change of course.”

“Why?”

The Guide rose from his seated position with a whoosh of his cloak, and smiled.

“Because I was going to lead you to the Bottomless Swamp and let you get devoured by moblins, but I guess I can’t do that to heroes.”

Silence followed, save for a muttered “I knew it” and the jingling of rupees exchanging hands.

This was going to be an interesting journey.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gee whillikers, that one was... basically crack. Sorry about that. Ah, well, I promise that the next chapter will be anything but. ;)))  
> Have you read Nine Lives by ageofavalon yet? If you haven't, then go. Skedaddle over there. Do it. It will be very worth your while. 
> 
> Author's Comments, in order of appearance:  
> \------------  
> Is it canon that all Links are terrible liars? I think it is. Yes, it is now.
> 
> I have wasted so much time in BotW searching Guardian corpses. So much time.
> 
> Silly Twilight, don't you know that the deceased skeletons of your past foes rise out of the ground at night and attack you? And, you know, Keese?
> 
> I'm kind of basing this on how the monsters do it around camp fires, and how they have it on the beach in Lurelin Village. I am vegetarian, and therefore know nothing about grilling fish over fires, but if there are any fish-grilling experts out there feel free to correct me.
> 
> To answer your question, Warrior, Legend got shipwrecked and went into an Adventure Coma™. I feel like that would do it to a person.
> 
> This "icy, blue eyes" headcanon was made by fox-moblin or Ort here on Ao3, and I am taking it and running.
> 
> Looking back, if you name yourself Legend or Warrior, you're gonna get some skeptics. It's just gonna happen.
> 
> It's true that only one person can just make up this kind of thing, and that person is Jojo. 
> 
> Shut up Wild, you're precious. 
> 
> Ok jeez Wild there's no need to be so dramatic and mysterious you are literally 17


	3. Trial by Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff gets... Shocking.
> 
> au by jojo56830

They were talking about him again. 

Of course they were, why would they not? He had saved their lives, then tried to kill them, and then tried to kill them again. And if it was true that they were from a different world, he could only imagine how strange he would seem to them. He expected this.

But did they really expect him to sleep, after what they’ve seen of this world? 

Their whispers carried across the silence like thunder to the Guide’s ears. 

_ Did you see those scars? _

_ Maybe we should try and find the way on our own. _

_ I don’t know, it might be too dangerous.  _

_ We at least need to find someone else, to give us some idea of what we’re dealing with. _

There was a long pause, this time. Maybe they were done? 

The Guide let his eyes slide shut, listening to the night birds call. He had nearly drifted off to sleep before another whisper caught him off guard.

_ Maybe there’s a Hero here. _

A laugh.

_ Some Hero they must be. _

The Guide’s breath caught in his throat. His hand curled into a fist as images flooded into his mind, all of them not favorable.

Vah Ruta, turning red as malice overtook it.

Guardian lasers tearing through Castle Town. 

A target, beeping down on his chest...

And then light.

Some Hero indeed.

\---

Legend was just about done with this world. He felt so terribly bad for whatever Hero had to brave its unreliable terrain, and especially its unreliable climate. 

He had woken to a chill wind blowing his pink hair across his face, and looked up to see that it was still dark.  Feeble sizzles came from the direction of what was their fire. 

It was raining.

He got up with a groan. His blanket was soaked, and his limbs felt agonizingly stiff from the fitful few hours of rest he had gotten on the hard ground. Why he had ever chosen to deal with this, he did not know. 

The others were stirring now, too. Their grunts of dismay showed that they hadn’t had it much better than Legend did. He turned to the sound of footsteps behind him.

“Rise and shine, travelers.” Said the Guide, that blasted Guide. That stupid Guide. This was all his bloody fault. His hood was up against the rain as he strode towards the disgruntled group, a disproportionately large spear sticking out from behind his shoulder, his quiver refilled with those green-feathered arrows. He looked delighted at their agony, which infuriated Legend all the more. 

“Oh, so have you just taken us on the most miserable route instead?” He spat. The boy just might have looked offended beneath that stupid hood.

“Dear Naydra, haven’t you four ever seen rain before?” He picked up his glowing mechanism and hooked it onto his belt. “We need to get moving before monsters find our camp.” The Guide jerked his head to the dying fire, which was indeed billowing a very visible column of smoke.

“But what about ‘not being able to walk at night’?” 

“Sunrise is in about a half hour. As long as we keep to the path, we should be fine until then.” 

The Guide strode up to the road, not sparing a glance back to see if they followed. Legend noticed that he still limped from the arrow wound they had given him yesterday, but he hadn’t said a word about it since. Perhaps he was just bitter that they had gotten the better of him. 

Taking solace in the thought, Legend trudged up the path to follow him.

\---

The rain had since cleared up, and to Legend’s mild dismay, the Guide was right. Nothing had plagued them as they hiked through the rolling fields. And Legend would never, ever admit it, but the sunrise was breathtakingly beautiful. The clouds erupted in flames of pink and yellow, washing the whole landscape with gold. Legend wished he could have frozen the picture in time so he could look back on it. 

Marin would love it.

Would have loved it.

His mood was officially soured by the time the colors faded away, plagued with unwelcome memories. And the Guide for sure was not helping. 

It wasn’t about anything he said, in fact his raspy, breathy tone barely graced the group on the road, but it was in everything he did. He kept his distance from the group at all times. He never gave a hint, any inkling of his motives. It took hours of incessant grilling from Time to even get the name of the village that they were going to. 

Kakariko. 

Not to mention his nonchalance with the state of this world. Ruins like this deserved at least a sorrowful glance, an acknowledgement of whatever battle had taken place. 

But where Legend saw destruction, the Guide apparently only saw opportunities for loot. 

It was frustrating. But the most frustrating part was that they didn’t have any other choice. Legend had to admit it, they would have died many times over if it weren’t for him. Monsters lurked everywhere, and the very landscape was a maze. But hopefully, they were making progress.

They were almost there when the sky went dark. 

The wind picked up, blowing Legend’s pink hair in his face for the second time that day, and blowing the Guide’s hood off his head. He got a glimpse of wind-swept gold before the traveler tugged the hood back on. 

Clouds soon rushed in to accompany the wind, blocking out the sun in a matter of moments. The Guide had stopped in his tracks to glance at the sky, then his glowing apparatus. A shadow fell across his face.

“Everyone, get rid of every metal object you have on you. A storm’s coming.” 

He gave an almost apologetic glance to Time, who instantly started scrabbling at the straps of his thick armor. Warrior unbuckled his pauldron and cast it off the road. Twilight chucked his scabbard far behind them. Legend stared in dismay at his array of rings and bracelets that adorned his hands, before painstakingly sliding them off and setting them in a sad, neglected pile on the ground.

The Guide made no move to take off his own weapons.  He appeared to be contemplating something, looking at each member of their group in turn.

The world lit up with a flash as the rain began to fall. Time was running out. 

Slowly, the Guide withdrew an ornate golden helm from his pack. Gerudo designs decorated its frame.

“Holy Hylia!” Time exclaimed at the sight of the artifact, a childish glint in his ancient eye. “Did you steal that?” 

“No, I earned it,” The Guide said with a smile, a finger rising to his lips in a gesture of secrecy. “But I may have forgotten to give it back.”

Time giggled, he actually  _ giggled _ , as the Guide took off his hood to slide the helm on. It slid far past his eyes and ringed his head with a golden halo.

Another flash of white filled the world, this time closely followed by a blast of thunder. They were out of time.

The Guide threw his glowing, folding compound bow to the ground and instead equipped a longbow of shining steel.

“Wait-”

He exchanged his oversized spear for a glittering golden claymore that must have weighed a few tons.

“Wait, what are you-”

A wooden shield clattered to the ground as it was replaced with one of luminous silver.

“But the lightning-”

When the sky lit up again, the light refracted off of the Guide’s weaponry, making him look like a scrappy, seventeen-year-old star. 

Thunder roared in the distance.

Time strode towards the now heavily metallic Guide.

“I thought you told us-”

“Stay where you are.” Said the Guide, a hand out. His voice was filled with a militaristic authority that made even Legend stiffen his stance. 

Electricity arced with a crackle from his shield. Another arc sprang from his bow in a sinister rhythm, like a clock counting down. 

The Guide began to sprint away from the group. 

The crisp crackles of electric sparks followed, the rhythm quickening. He was around a bend, now. The entire group looked on in shock.

_ Boom! _

An earth-shattering crack had split the very world, sending Legend reeling. His ears rang with the cacophony of a million buzzing insects. It took a hot minute for his eyes to make out shapes from the blinding brightness. 

The Guide.

The stupid, bloody Guide had killed himself, for them. 

Legend spared a glance to the many bracelets still on his hand, and the armor Time still hadn’t had time to take off. That would have been them, if it weren’t for that blasted Guide. 

Legend fell to his knees. He looked out to the path before it took a bend, where their only Guide was probably a spot on the ground. 

And then, the strangest thing happened. 

Out from behind the bend emerged a figure. Though his clothing was blackened with ash and soot, his limp was unmistakable.

It was the Guide. He had survived. 

Legend exhaled a shaky breath as he hauled himself to his feet. He didn’t know what he would have done with another sacrifice on his conscience, especially from a person who seemed so self-preserving.

Legend didn’t really know what to feel, so he settled on the feeling he knew best. 

_ “Why in the name of all that is holy did you feel that necessary?!” _ He exclaimed to the blackened figure trudging back towards them. Of course he knew the answer, he just needed to yell at someone to keep that knot of bitterness tangled up in his chest.

The Guide gestured weakly to all of the metal piled up around their motley crew. 

“Would’ve… died,” He stumbled. “Only… only logical.”

A flash lit the world as lightning struck a tree a few miles to the east. The storm was moving on. 

Legend wanted to tear out each individual strand of his hair. Or better, just rip it all off at once. This  _ boy,  _ saves their  _ lives,  _ by nearly  _ killing his damn self,  _ and says that it was the  _ logical  _ thing to do?!

A voice came from beside him.

“We… need to thank you,” Said Twilight. Legend could feel the glare the furry Hero was shooting at him boring through his skin.

_ For giving us all heart attacks? Yeah, thanks a bunch! _

“We would have died had it not been for you.”

_ If it had not been for him, we could have all just lived our lives in peace! _

“I’ll be honest- perhaps we underestimated you.” Added Warrior.

_ Oh, now good ol’ Captain was joining in. That bloody little… _

Wait. 

Hold on now.

Was the Guide…

_ Blushing? _

He was. A little bit of pink had accented the shadows of his hood.

“We just need to follow the road through the pillars of Levia, then we should be at the village. The village elder, Impa, can help you.” He said, facing the road ahead. A deft subject change. Oh, that just said it all.

Envoys of sunlight shot through the dissipating clouds, revealing the bright afternoon sun. The rain padded away sheepishly leaving only the crisp scent of wet leaves in its wake. 

With the rain went the bitterness that Legend had been clutching to so hard against his chest. He hadn’t realized he had needed it so bad- that it was all he was holding on to. But he just couldn’t hold on anymore, not after what the Guide did. It left room for a flower- just a bud- of hope to unfurl, and maybe even something else. Gratefulness for their Guide? No. Newfound respect? No. He wasn’t quite ready for that, neither of them were. 

Maybe it was just… opportunity.

Yes. Opportunity. That was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must forgive my sluggish writing habits. One week feels like so little time in the grand scheme of things~  
> I had to rewrite that ending many, many times. It just did not agree. But in the end, we got there.  
> Have you read Everything Stays by MyssAmyss? An epic name, if I do say so myself. Just rolls off the tongue. If you want some sweet, sweet Time/Malon feels, this is the place to go.  
> Thank you for all of your lovely feedback and comments on those last chapters! You have no idea how much they mean to me ;)
> 
> Author's Notes, in order of appearance:
> 
> Jeez that's mean, what if the hero was right behind you? How would they feel?
> 
> Ooh that luscious pink hair. It's because you're worth it.
> 
> SOmebody's anGEry cos of what some MEanIes SAid about him@!!!11
> 
> I think it's less likely for stal-bokos and such to spawn on the road...right?
> 
> Someone's crusty with salt.
> 
> It's called a picture, Legend. Oh and sorry about your girlfriend. That's rough buddy.
> 
> It's BECAUSE YOU'RE WORTH It -Lorealgend
> 
> Yeah, Time, you probably should have thought through wearing a full suit of armor for adventuring.
> 
> And so the self-sacrificial instinct rears its ugly head. This is only the beginning.
> 
> 'The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math,' -Wild, at All Times
> 
> Poor flustered little Wild who can't take praise for the life of him.


	4. The Truthteller's Curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All that is gold does not glitter,  
> Not all who wander are lost;  
> The old that is strong does not wither,  
> Deep roots are not reached by the frost.  
> From the ashes a fire shall be woken,  
> A light from the shadows shall spring;  
> Renewed shall be blade that was broken,  
> The crownless again shall be king.

The doors of the biggest house in Kakariko flew open with a crack as the traveler trudged through. A bitter wind followed him, rustling the tapestries on the wall.  
He was soaked.   
He threw off his hood, revealing unkempt blonde hair haphazardly pulled away from his face. He was covered from head to toe in powdery black ash.   
The figure seated in view of the entrance raised her hat, revealing eyes that were both concerned and annoyed at the same time.  
“Impa,” Panted the Guide, “I have a predicament.”  
\---  
The Kakariko Village of this time seemed peaceful enough to Time. There weren’t any monster hordes awaiting their arrival, or any lurking spies. Even so, he scanned the settlement with his lone eye cautiously.   
A large house that was clearly Impa’s overlooked the entire village to his right, and to his left he saw a perfectly prosperous town. It was as if they had entered a completely different world than the one that spit monsters and destruction at them just a few minutes ago.  
A little girl nearly barreled him over as they entered the main road.  
The girl looked up with wide eyes, but whether they were wide with awe or fear, Time couldn’t tell. Her eyes passed over his armor. His massive sword. His face markings. As her eyes finally found his lone unscarred blue, her face split with a smile like the sun.  
“Link! Did you find a new outfit?”   
Time sputtered. What?!  
“It looks sooooo cool! You better tell me the story of how you got it!”  
At this point the others had gone ahead. Legend was inspecting what looked like a shrine to Hylia. Warriors was flirting with a shop girl. Twilight was having a stand-off with a cucco.  
“Come on, Link, you tell the best stories!” The girl said, brown eyes just crackling with youthful energy. “You should play with me more before just going to Impa’s like that.”  
Time forced himself to deconstruct what he was hearing.   
Link. So there was a Hero of this time. And they were alive. And they passed through this area often. And… had a famously strange wardrobe?   
Something prickled at the back of his neck. A needle of doubt, a jab of suspicion. Something wasn’t right.  
Time turned his head to the regal house where the Guide had dashed ahead into just minutes ago.   
“You should play with me more before just going to Impa’s like that.”  
The prickling sensation grew as Time’s mind began to turn.  
Just exactly who did they end up crossing paths with?  
\---  
Sweet-smelling steam curled around the Guide’s face as he took a sip of Impa’s best rice tea- the one she saves for Tea Ceremonies, or when she has an esteemed guest. He set the tea back down on the low table before continuing.  
“If what they say is true, then they can’t know who I am.”  
Metal rattled against metal as Impa raised her sight to the sky.  
“Different eras brought together- I have heard of such a thing in legends. Perhaps this is truth,” The Sheikah leaned in, bringing her gaze back to the bedraggled traveler.  
“But why, pray tell, would they not have need of you?”  
The Guide took a deep breath in, opened his mouth, then thought better of it. He fingered the cup of tea restlessly in his hands.  
“I have brought dishonor to the name of the Hero,” He finally forced out. “I have left this land to its demise. I am not fit to be a Hero among Heroes.”  
Impa laughed heartily, her hat ornaments rattling together as if they were joining in.   
“If this has been your view of yourself, I should have set you to rights the moment you came into my abode.”  
The Guide averted his eyes to the tea in his hand.   
“The future needs us. The past already has passed.”   
Impa’s gaze fell on the tapestry on the wall, of the place where the Guide had his final memory. The place where he fell.  
“What happened was a result of the hubris of many- we tried to follow in the footsteps of the past. It is only because of you that we were saved from certain demise.”  
For the first time in the whole exchange, the Guide let his sight drift to the object that was laid before him. Folded neatly in brilliant blue was the Champion’s Tunic, emblazoned with white. He forced himself not to look away, not to remember who wore that tunic a hundred years ago.   
“The future awaits, Hero.”  
It was his, now.   
It was his. Not his.  
A smile spread across the Elder’s face as the Guide brushed his hand along the weathered seams.  
“For how much longer will you live in fear of your own name, Link?”   
\---  
Twilight had to wake the innkeeper up.  
It had taken so long, Time almost thought he was going to have to deal with a murder on his hands. But perhaps that was just his paranoia.  
The man had drowsily asked them if they wanted the regular beds or the soft beds. Looking down at the one hundred and fifty rupees the Guide had hastily pressed into his hand for lodging before he had bolted off to the main house, he realized that it was exactly enough for five soft beds. The Guide was more generous than he had expected.  
Time definitely could use the recharge, as could the rest of the company. Warriors was still in shock from the thunderstorm that morning. Legend looked the most drained that Time had ever seen him. And Twilight was putting up a stoic effort, but Time could see the emotional and physical fatigue in his eyes.   
They needed to rest. But there was something Time needed to attend to.  
\---  
The guards grunted in annoyance as Time shoved past them and hurtled up the wooden staircase, but the old woman didn’t even flinch as he blasted the door open to the head house.  
She only tilted her head to the side, quizically. Metal ornaments hanging from her huge hat chimed from the movement.  
“Are you the Hero of Time I have been told of?” She asked.  
“Yes, and-” Time stopped. Warning bells chimed in his mind.  
“Wait, ‘Have been told of?’ Who told you?”   
“None of your concern. Now, you came here because your Guide came here, and you think he is not who he seems. But what do you need of me?”  
Again Time was at a loss for words. He felt the hardened adult shrinking back, leaving the traumatized child open and vulnerable. Only one person could read him like an open book, and they had lived together for years.   
“Well, I, er, I thought you might know if there was a Hero in this age…?” He hated more than anything how unsure he sounded. What had he expected to gain in coming here? What did he need from this Elder who seemed to know more about him than he knew about himself?  
“Why, there is!” She laughed.  
“And do you know the most interesting part of it?” The elder leaned in conspiratorially, the ornaments dangling from her oversized hat ringing cheerfully as if they were in on some secret.

“You’ve already met him.”

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past Time’s head, landing with a woody thunk in the wall.   
It was unmistakable- bright green feathers on a sturdy wood shaft, triangular head buried deep in the wood.   
A figure stepped out from behind the elder’s massive hat. His new blue tunic was a bit big on him, but it gave him an air that commanded respect.   
Time could have laughed and cried and punched someone all at once. All this time, he had hid from right beneath their noses? He had so many questions to ask him when he got back to the inn. But first, he had something he needed to get straight.  
“So your name-”  
The Guide fixed those ancient eyes on his scarred ones and nodded.   
“My name is Link,” He said, with renewed courage. A slow, crooked smile spread across his face.  
“But that might get confusing, won’t it?”

Epilogue

“Wait, so it was you all this time?”  
“No offense, but you don’t look like a Hero.”  
“How could he not take offense from that?”  
All of the questions made the Guide want to shrink into his cloak and disappear, but he knew he owed them this for all he put them through.  
“Well, it’s a really long story…”   
Time gestured to the empty inn around them. Not a lot of travelers came through Kakariko anyways, and even less of them would want to share a night with five heavily armed warriors.  
“We have all night.”  
The Guide took a deep breath in. He just needed to tell them what they needed to know- that wasn’t so hard, right?  
-/-/-  
There was a long pause before Legend’s voice broke the silence.  
“Dammit, kid. How old were you?”  
“Same as I am now. Seventeen,”  
Time shook his head. There was anger in his eyes.  
Twilight shifted uncomfortably.   
“Oh.”  
There was obviously more to say, but Link was done. He had already ripped off a hundred old scabs, and even if he wasn’t going to admit he was bleeding out, he still needed some time to clean up the mess.   
Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. It was Twilight. It took every muscle in his body not to flinch away, not to grab a weapon just to feel its cold solace. 

“You- you know you don’t have to be alone anymore. Right?”

Alone.

There was a sort of surety in that word, a hard truth. 

Together?

It felt like a lie. And yet there was light in it, warmth. Opportunity. Having someone to talk to, having someone to cook for. There was adventure. New experiences to explore, new puzzles to face.  
A smile began to take root.

He was nothing if not an explorer.   
\---

One month later

\---  
Wild stirred the cooking pot, watching the sun set.  
It had only been a little while, but Wild missed his home. He missed the rolling fields and sunset-streaked peaks. He missed the familiar glow of Sheikah technology. He realized how much he had come to rely on places, instead of people. He didn’t get many places to rely on as of late.  
But people were in plentiful supply.  
So many more new wonderful personalities had dropped in along their journey- there was Four, with his mysterious sword and scattered character, Wind with his gremlin-esque determination to conquer anything within range of his telescope, Hyrule with his soft-spoken demeanor but incredible resourcefulness, and of course Sky, the first, wielding kindness almost as deftly as he wields his sacred blade.  
He had come to rely on them. And it wasn’t so bad of a feeling.  
And he had learned to rely on himself, too. He let show the side of himself that had forgotten the burdens that came with the title of Hero, that just loved to find.  
And what a lovely thing he has found.

Scalding pain erupted in his hand- the broth had bubbled over. He hissed in shame almost as much as pain. He had never gotten distracted like this back home.   
But… hadn’t he? Hadn’t he sat by the fire and just wondered for hours on end until the sun came up? Hadn’t he fantasized about his old life as he made his way across lonely mountain paths? 

Distraction didn’t mean weakness, it just meant a moment of thought. He could afford a moment of thought in a protected camp inhabited by skilled warriors.   
There was so much more he still had to learn about fighting in a group. About living in a group. But for now? He could do with letting someone else watch his back for the briefest moment.   
He laughed at himself, relishing in his newfound peace of mind. His new family.  
Perhaps he was getting used to not being alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it! I really hope you liked it! A huge thanks to everyone who gave me feedback and encouragement on the previous chapters to prove this wasn't all just a big mess.   
> I might keep up the weekly update schedule with just random drabbles and old requests, but with the way things are shaping up I can't make any promises.   
> BUT!  
> If you grow bored of my ramblings, Ort's recent series Lay Waste is where the true goodness lies. It's... incredible. I've read it at least six times already.
> 
> =Author's notes, in order of appearance:=
> 
> I like to imagine Wild does this to Impa at least three times a week.
> 
> Iiiiit's Cottla! Absolute best and greatest!
> 
> Wild never opens up to adults, but all the village kids know his stories. <\- Totally True Canon Now
> 
> NO WILD MY SON YOU'RE PERFECT SHUT UR FACE
> 
> Come onnn Wild that tunic looks so good on youuuu
> 
> Impa's seen some stuff. Ain't nothing gonna faze her now.
> 
> GODAMMIT AGAIN WILD?? HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOOT ARROWS IN THE WALL?!
> 
> Hyrule is best boy and I want to write something with him soon.
> 
> ~et fin~

**Author's Note:**

> These chapters won't be terribly long, so I'll try to update every Monday or so. A free fic request goes to the one who guesses what obscure book series I drew most of my inspiration from, and what character in aforementioned book series I channeled for Wild.  
> Oh, and if you're reading this and haven't read Growth Where Destruction Hit by Raikcaa, what are you even doing? A hefty sum of this fic is inspired by their poetic masterpiece. Please, head over there posthaste!
> 
> Author's comments, in order of appearance:  
> \-----------------  
> That's not a wall, sillies, it's a plateau... cliff... thing!
> 
> I based this setting off of Outpost Ruins, right by the Great Plateau.
> 
> Aw scoob, Twilight's dead HAHA NOPE
> 
> The "folding" bow is Robbie's Ancient Bow, one of my favorites to have in my inventory.
> 
> Gee, I sure do wonder what that glowing rectangle is (it's the Sheikah Slate)
> 
> Silly Wild, those aren't Yiga! They're your future bros!!
> 
> Hehe guess who is super untrusting and angsty! It's yaboy!!! Yes I am two I know;)


End file.
